Manufacturers and distributors of controlled substances are required to comply with various federal and state regulations. Such regulations may require manufacturers and distributors to maintain records of substance types, quantities, customers, and other pertinent information associated with orders and/or shipment of controlled substances. A controlled substance is generally understood to be a drug or chemical substance whose possession and use are regulated under the United States' Controlled Substances Act, such as, for instance, narcotic drugs and other substances that have abuse potential. Under federal regulations, entities that distribute controlled substances also have an affirmative duty to develop and implement systems and processes to detect and report suspicious activity relating to orders for controlled substances. Suspicious orders may include orders of unusual size, orders deviating substantially from a normal pattern, and orders of unusual frequency. Failure to do so may result in fines and/or loss of privilege to ship such substances.
Conventional systems and processes for monitoring suspicious activity are often static and simplistic. For example, such conventional systems may involve simply comparing the quantity of a particular controlled substance specified in an order to a fixed or predetermined maximum quantity for that particular controlled substance. Such simplistic systems can result in over reporting of suspicious order activity. Moreover, such systems can result in under reporting of suspicious orders by customers that have discovered how to avoid detection by such systems. Thus, systems and processes are needed that can identify suspicious orders more efficiently based on dynamic thresholds that are determined based on a plurality of historical considerations.